


What's a "Glow Cloud"?

by Emono



Series: Safe and Sound [3]
Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Caring, Glow Cloud, M/M, More development, More slight bickering, Ominous, Pissy!Carlos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-27
Updated: 2013-08-27
Packaged: 2017-12-24 21:09:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/944685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emono/pseuds/Emono
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When they continue to bicker about who knows best, Carlos is the first to give. All Cecil wants to do is protect him, from the Glow Cloud and anything else that might come along.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What's a "Glow Cloud"?

**The photoset for this chapter is[here](http://emono-omae.tumblr.com/post/59545404316/its-coming-its-coming-his-voice-was-breaking). Reccommend you take a look if you want to see [my new fancast for Cecil](http://emono-omae.tumblr.com/post/59555644461/cecil-baldwin-the-voice-of-night-vale-protector) (sorry, Robert Hoffman, but you have like NO pics and you're a little young).**

* * *

 

Cecil shot straight up in bed, mind still hazy with purple smoke and dead cats.

 

“It's coming,” he rasped, all three eyes glowing and blank as they took in the darkness of his bedroom. His extra limbs, materialized and free in his slumber, lashed out and shattered his lamp. His lids started to droop, the light fading with them.

 

“It's coming, it's coming,” his voice was breaking up like static, “All hail...all hail...”

 

Cecil trailed off, a strong wave of exhaustion overtaking him. No, he couldn't sleep! He had to tell Carlos, he had to tell him to stay away. He leaned over to the night stand and dug his hand inside, grasping hastily for his memo book and a crayon. His eyes had faded and the room was once again pitch, he wrote as best he could across the paper.

 

He hoped to write: _**Tell Carlos about the cloud. Will encompass all. Tell not to study.**_

 

The moment he was sure he'd gotten it all down, he fell asleep with the pad still on the bed and his fingers curled around red wax.

 

***

 

Cecil dreamed of mist the color of his true eyes and red lightning. Carlos was trapped within it, wrapped around with its smoke and screaming for help. For Cecil. For God. For anyone who would listen. The Glow Cloud had no mercy.

 

Outside the nightmare, tears soaked his pillow.

 

***

 

The next morning, Cecil brushed his teeth in front of his little bathroom mirror while he stared down at a page from his memo book. He couldn't recall last night's dreams but the dark circles under his eyes told him he hadn't slept well. There was one ominous sentence on the little paper, crayon ragged with his hasty scrawl.

 

_**All hail the Glow Cloud.** _

 

Cecil frowned to himself and took his toothbrush out of his mouth, “What's a 'Glow Cloud'?”

 

***

 

Carlos yawned behind his hand as he locked up he warehouse they were using as a home base, the main lab set up through it to the best of their ability. It was a nice set up and they managed to get a lot accomplished in the make-shift laboratory. He'd similarly rigged up the bottom floor of his own apartment so he could work through the night undisturbed if needed.

 

As usual, he was the last to leave and it was up to him to shut the place down. His jaw cracked from the stretch of another hard yawn, one hand covering his lips again while the other fished for his keys. He managed to unlock his car with watery eyes, slipping inside and shutting the door with a solid _thump._ Carlos went about his usual routine, adjusting his rearview mirror before buckling his seat belt. He jammed his key in the ignition before he could process just what he'd seen.

 

A set of eyes reflecting the light.

 

Carlos quickly turned around in his seat, breath just starting to pick up when he saw it was Cecil sitting in his back seat. The radio host was folding his hands in his lap like he was trying to compose himself, a small smile on his lips. It must've been his glasses catching the parking lot beams. It had to be.

 

“Hello, Carlos, how are you this evening?” Cecil asked gently.

 

“At the moment?” Carlos hissed, “Terrified and annoyed that the local radio host is skulking around in my car. How did you get in here?!”

 

The blonde's brow pinched up, “Through the door.”

 

Carlos slumped back into his seat, rubbing the flat of his palm over his forehead, “What is it, Cecil?”

 

“I have a request.”

 

“Shoot.”

 

“I would like you to leave the Glow Cloud alone.”

 

“What? Is that what you call that mass moving in from the distance?” he turned back again, “That's the biggest anomaly we've seen since we arrived. We can't just let it pass by without getting as much data as possible from it.”

 

“You really shouldn't,” Cecil bit the side of his lip, a flash of his dream coming back to him, “It's deadly and I don't want to see you – or any of your team – hurt.”

 

“We won't be harmed,” Carlos rolled his eyes, “It's just a cloud. It has no real shape, it can't do anything to us. See, clouds are made up of-”

 

Cecil sighed loudly as the other continued on in technical jargon.

 

“Well,” his hands were wringing in his lap, “I see we've reached the fork in our relationship. I was afraid of this.”

 

Carlos frowned at how solemn the host sounded.

 

“I must ask you very seriously to stay way from it. If not for me, then for yourself. Your life is very much on the line now."

 

“I became a researcher for a reason. This  _is_  my life,” Carlos tried to explain as best he could, “If I can't discover the workings of the universe, I can't call myself a man of science.”

 

“You wouldn't be _you_ ,” Cecil acknowledged, still visibly uncomfortable, “If you try to record the Glow Cloud, it could kill you or worse.”

 

The other tisked in disbelief, “Worse?”

 

“It could rip you apart and send each piece of you to another world.”

 

“Another world?” Carlos parroted, eyes rounding out, “Cecil...things can't do that. The world doesn't work that way.”

 

“As far as you know,” Cecil could feel his fangs itching to descend but he managed to choke them back, “Promise me you'll stay away from it?”

 

Carlos was about to protest more but the host sounded desperate. He hated to make someone like Cecil suffer like this so he found himself nodding instead. He could almost hear the potential research going down the drain but maybe Cecil was right, maybe he didn't need to know exactly what it was.

 

“Thank you,” Cecil melted into he seat, relief lightening up his features, “It'll move on soon, within the next day or so. Hopefully before tomorrow's show.”

 

“What do you know about it?” his curiosity wasn't satisfied, “What does it want?”

 

“I'm not sure,” Cecil rubbed two fingers over his temple, “All I know is that it's bigger than any of us but it doesn't seem to want to harm anyone. At least, not at the moment.”

 

“I can see you're worried, my friend,” Carlos admitted with a half-smile, “And if you are, I should be too. I think I'll spend the next few days in my lab, just to be safe.”

 

The blonde's fine shoulders slumped, “Thank goodness.”

 

“Will you report on the incoming cloud?”

 

“Yes,” he nodded, “Station Management demands it.”

 

“And do you always do what Station Management commands?” Carlos prodded.

 

Cecil's chuckle was dry, voice unlike anything he'd heard so far. It rattled as he spoke, beyond his usual silky purr.

 

“Oh yes, darling,” it sent shivers through Carlos, “Always.”

 

The scientist dropped his head back against the seat, closing his eyes briefly to compose himself.

 

“But why?” he pleaded.

 

There was no answer.

 

“Cecil?”

 

He turned in his seat, “Cecil?”

 

The man was gone.

* * *

**Cute, yes? Hopefully. I want you guys to enjoy it!**

 


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